While heading to O’Rourke’s Diner at 4:30 a.m. last Thursday to get a Western omelet, I was approached by a man wearing bunny-shaped earmuffs and a disconcerting number of jackets. He gestured for me to come closer, at which point he leaned in and, in a tone of secrecy and urgency, whispered, “There’s no such thing as radio waves.” I briefly considered his statement, concluded that I knew very little about the subject and, fearful of appearing uninformed in front of my new friend, whispered back, “I know.” Seconds later, a young man with a backwards baseball cap driving a beige car rolled down his window, pointed at me, and yelled, “Nice scooter, fag!” I was, in fact, riding a scooter.
The first man had as much of a right to espouse his views on radio waves as he did to collect jars of his own urine, which he kept in his shopping cart (1). Similarly, the second man is entitled to his opinion of my scooter, despite how hurtful that opinion might be (2).
These two men represent the students who had the right to voice their opinions at the community forum held before break, but whose opinions pretty much suck and should probably be ignored.
The issues listed in the “Community Concerns” email that was eventually sent to President Bennet range from pressing to depressingly asinine. In our attempt to be as inclusive and inoffensive as possible, legitimate concerns like WESU’s affiliation with NPR are diluted by things like whining over having to walk outside in the cold. I chose three of these issues to briefly discuss:
“Mandatory diversity training for all members of the Wesleyan community.” I think it’s about time that we dropped the pretense of “diversity.” “Diversity University” is one of the most politically homogenous schools in the country and there aren’t too many students clamoring for the inclusion of more Christian fundamentalists or pro-life activists. Look, if you want to be trained and instructed on how to act and what to say around others, that is fine, but don’t drag the rest of us through it. Coerced Conformity 101 is a course I can do without.
“Allow students…veto power. As consumers we should have the ability to make the decisions on our own lives.” First of all, “consumers” consume a product; they don’t create or manage it. If a consumer is unhappy with a product, the consumer won’t purchase it. At most, the consumer might put a curt note in a suggestion box or, if he has lots of time to kill, write a letter to the manufacturer. This economic argument doesn’t make too much sense. Second of all, every decision made here affects students’ lives in some way, from which professors get tenure to fundraising to the menu at MoCon. It is implausible to have the “consumers” make all these decisions. It is important to note that several of the groups involved in the community forum and in the storming of Bennet’s office argued vehemently against the decision-making of the student body last year when the majority voted for points off-campus.
“Diversity training for athletes and investigation on how they get admitted.” What happened? Did you get picked last everyday while playing football during recess? Were you the kid who picked flowers while everyone else played basketball? Did you get made fun of in high school for going to Slam Poetry Night instead of watching the Super Bowl? An athlete understands hard work, empathy, and dedication in ways that are often lost on the rest of us and they should be valued highly. I don’t need to expound on the idiocy of this “concern,” but it does need to be said that casting a cloud of suspicion around athletes is absurd and that aggressively seeking out student athletes for admittance would only improve the Wesleyan community.
Many students have complained about “being silenced.” There is a big difference between “being silenced” and “having nothing to say.” The community forum, like the email of “community concerns,” was largely a waste of time, though at times entertaining (like when a bunch of people would stand up, then turn around, then turn back again, then repeat it several times, like a retarded Macarena).
Students got their chance to rant about radio waves and denigrate my scooter; they shouldn’t now be upset when those views are ignored, refuted, or laughed at. The valid, well-reasoned concerns should be fought for with vigilance, whether that means protesting or occupying buildings or filling Bennet’s office with angry bees or some sort of “freak out” where girls strip and have sex with each other in front of North College and tape it and put it on the network. Fine, everyone should have a voice, but if that voice is trying to force me to subscribe to its agenda or is spouting uninformed drivel, that voice should be punched in the mouth. Sometimes, you have to think about what you are voicing, realize that your opinion is worth less than a jar of your own urine, and just let me eat my damn omelet in peace.
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